Escaping Earth
by RAWN89
Summary: Direct sequel to "Chased to another World" more like part 2 actually. Wouldn't recommend reading this before the previous story!
1. Prologue: And Hello Again

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Prologue: And Hello Again**

Sonic screeched to a halt in front of Jed. The human jumped in surprise, before he gave him a big relieved smile "Thought you had found another way to go home and

left without even saying goodbye. Em and I just looked all over for you".

"Give me some credit! I wouldn`t have done that after all you`ve done for me, besides there really is no other way for me to leave this planet without that emerald. I

also got those tiger cubs back" the blue hedgehog answered with a wink of an eye and returned the smile.

"You did!? That`s great news! How on Earth did you manage to find them?" Jed asked eagerly in wondering awe.

"The thieves returned so I simply let them catch me and take me to them, no biggie" Sonic said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"Whoa, is that why you have that thing around your neck? Did you actually break through it?" the young human asked further and pointed at the chain, which now

hung in front of Sonic after the sudden halt he recently had made.

"Almost forgot about that! Think you can take it off?" he asked with a rueful smile while giving the metal leash a light tug.

"Not without hurting you…the best thing would be to get the key" the other pondered.

"In other words, I need to go back, don`t I?" Sonic groaned and ran off before Jed had time to reply.

The zookeeper stared in amazement at the dust cloud left by the blue blur when he suddenly realized something.

"_He forgot the emerald!"_


	2. Chapter 1: Breaking and Entering

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 1: Breaking and Entering**

Sonic couldn`t believe he had to go back to that terrible place where the two thieves, Jason and Max, stayed. How was he supposed to even find that key? Ask them

nicely if they would be so kind to give it to him? Hardly!

They would probably just try to capture him again as soon as they saw him. And he didn`t want them to get that chance ever again. Once was more than enough!

He slowed down into a halt as he reached the much dreaded house, and he came to think of all the other animals trapped down inside that poorly lit basement.

He had informed Emily about them and she would tip the police, but…some of the unfortunate creatures had been in a pretty bad shape…

It pained him to think that they would have to stay there for who-knows-how-much-longer before the cops came. Maybe he could take a couple of them with him,

since he had come all this way again anyway.

Standing in front of the entrance he suddenly hesitated. He had, without thinking, raised a fist to knock on the damaged door, but that seemed to be a generally bad

idea for someone who by all means didn`t want to meet the residents. So he lowered his hand and started to look for another way of entering the house, and finally

found one on the backside of the shabby house in the form of an unlocked window. He peeped through it to check if the coast was clear, assured that that was the

case, he carefully opened the window and climbed through it. Almost feeling like a burglar, he tiptoed silently across the room, which was empty except for a brown

tattered old sofa, an old TV standing on a wooden box, and a thick layer of dust that tickled his nose when inhaling.

"_Guess this must be the unlivable living room"_ he thought dryly. How anyone could live in a dump like this was beyond him. At least it should be fairly easy to find

that key if all the rooms were as unfurnished as this.

He snuck out into what he recognized as the entry he had been in just about an hour ago. Without hesitation he tried to open the door leading to the basement, only

to find out that it was locked. He decided to wait to break down the door, since that would obviously attract unwanted attention, and went to search for the key to

unlock the metal collar instead. The sooner he found that, the sooner he could stop worrying about avoiding detection from those crooks.

Speaking of which…he had neither seen nor heard from any of them so far, but he felt sure that they had to be around somewhere. Their van was still parked in the

driveway, and of course they had no idea that the cops would be on their doorstep anytime soon. So where could they be?

A quick search of the first floor, proved fruitless as he could find no key or trail of any human beings. That left him with the second floor.

Sonic warily started to climb up the stairs, pausing in alarm every time the old wood under his sneakers creaked in protest under the weight of the small hedgehog.

When he finally got upstairs, he waited a short moment to listen for any sounds revealing whether he was alone or not, but didn`t pick up anything that would

suggest the presence of anyone.

He didn`t like the situation, they had to be somewhere around. Surely they wouldn`t have left on foot! After all they were in the middle of nowhere, so to speak.

He noticed that one of the doors was open, and he decided to see in that room first.

Upon reaching it, he saw that it was some kind of storeroom filled with various equipment used for capturing animals no doubt. He looked at the room`s content with

a disapproving frown, until he noticed what was hanging on the wall in front of him. Keys! Lots and lots of keys!

"_Oh boy, this could take a while"_ he thought with sinking enthusiasm.


	3. Chapter 2: Ambush

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 2: Ambush**

After trying at least three dozen keys with rapidly increasing frustration, and throwing each of them down in a growing pile on the floor behind him, he started to

doubt that the key he was looking for was there after all. Only two more keys were still hanging untried on the wall, and one of them he had intentionally

ignored because it was too small to fit in the keyhole on his collar. He reached for the last remaining hope of getting rid of the annoying metal leash. Holding his

breath in anticipation, he led the small piece of metal into the keyhole. It fit, but so had many before it. He still needed to turn it around…

The lock clicked open, and he sighed in relief as he was finally able to take off the collar.

What he had failed to notice while being so caught up with his task, was the fact that he no longer had the privilege of being alone in the room.

Sonic flinched in surprise as he felt a sudden sting on his left shoulder. Confused, he quickly inspected the punctured area, noticing a thin red dart. Realizing what it

was, he ripped it out, spun around and snarled at the man with a blowpipe still in hand.

Jason gave him a satisfied smirk "I had a feeling you`d be back for the key, Blue".

Sonic mentally cursed himself for not paying better attention when literally being in the middle of enemy territory.

The hedgehog started to feel dizzy, but his thoughts were still coherent and desperately trying to decide what to do. Tackle the human in a similar manner he had

previously done to Max? Or perhaps, jump out of the window?

Not sure whether his legs would take kindly to stairs anymore, he decided to go for option number two. After all, second floor wasn`t that high for the hero of

Mobius…

He crashed through the window and landed somewhat ungracefully on his feet, stumbling forward, barely maintaining his balance. His vision started to get blurry and

obscured by black spots. He tried to shake it off, but it only got worse, forcing him to fall down on his knees and support himself with his hands.

Someone, probably Jason, shouted something, but his ears couldn`t quite make out the exact words. Not that it mattered; he was as good as caught by these two

crooks anyway…again.

Sonic collapsed to the ground with a small groan as his conscience faded away.

* * *

_An hour later…_

* * *

"Hey Jay, he`s waking up! Should we give him another dose?"

The blue hedgehog stirred as his sense of hearing returned, and he became aware that he was lying on his stomach on a hard wooden surface.

"Nah, he`ll be drowsy for at least a couple of hours, and I don`t want to risk killing him with an overdose. Just make sure you hold him securely while I blunt the

quills"

Sonic`s eyes snapped open at that last remark, and he felt a strong flight impulse, but his body wouldn`t listen. He tried to move his hands, barely managing to get

them to react, but they immediately were pinned down by another pair of hands.

"Let go of me" he muttered weakly, but his objection fell on deaf ears.


	4. Chapter 3: Unwanted Quill Treatment

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 3: Unwanted Quill Treatment**

First they had tried a normal scissor, without success, then they tried a hedge-trimmer, which regrettably worked, but they had to sharpen it before they could

actually go through with the procedure of trimming the tip of his quills. Afterwards they used a hand-held sander to file down the edges of his spines.

Although the treatment didn`t hurt, since it was no worse than cutting your hair or nails, it still made Sonic cringe and quiver in discomfort every time they used one

of the tools. He felt utterly humiliated that his only way of protection, except from being able to run away at an inconceivable speed, was taken from him.

His blunted quills would eventually be replaced by new sharp ones, sure enough, but that would take weeks. Of course he could always get them sharpened, but that

would take a lot of time and effort, and it was not a job he could do by himself. So it looked like he would have to refrain from using any form of buzz saw-moves for

a while…

After every visible quill had been taken care of, Jason had forced a new chained collar around the now more fiercely struggling hedgehog`s neck. His arms were

locked to his sides by Max`s strong arms, so there was nothing he could do to hinder it, although he did managed to give the leaner human a well-placed kick in the

chest afterwards to Sonic`s brief amusement. Although cursing and threatening him, they didn`t actually want to damage such a unique creature they planned on

selling, so he wasn`t punished for the act at all. They had even seemed to be concerned by the still bandaged tail and all the claw marks on the blue one`s arms, but

hadn`t had time to check the wounds any closer since he had started to regain full control of his body and started to squirm away from their touches more forcibly,

making it hard for them to hold him down, and rather decided to restrain him and lock him up in the dark basement.

After once again being tied to the metal ring on the floor, he had been left alone. Well, alone with the other captured animals, that is. There was nothing he could do

for them now though, since he pretty much was in the same disposition as they were, which didn`t exactly brighten his mood.

He tried straightening out the ruffled quills to make it less obvious that they had been tampered with. They had only been cut by about an inch, so he hoped no one

would notice when, or if, he got back to Mobius…

"_Stop being so pessimistic, of course you`ll get out of this!"_ he reminded himself.

Though `how` he was supposed to do so, he didn`t know yet.

After pacing back and forth as much as the short leash would allow for what seemed like hours, the door opened and the bulky one of his two captors came down the

stairs carrying a couple of bowls. The human placed them within the hedgehogs reach on the floor without a word. Sonic, who had backed away from

the other as far as his chain would allow and given him a vicious and accusing glare, didn`t say anything either. Only in lack of anything else to do, he checked the

content of the bowls after the human had left. One contained water and the other some pale mush that smelled like porridge, which he would have refused to eat

even if they had bothered to actually heat it before offering it. He drank some water though, since he was rather parched after being drugged two times on his

currently short visit to this planet, and generally feeling a bit dehydrated.

After what felt like an eternity, he started to grow impatient and started to wonder if the police wouldn`t come soon. They must have gotten Emily`s tip by now!

What was taking them so long?

Tired of his pacing, he slumped down on the cold hard floor and tried in vain to get some rest while he waited for something, anything, to happen.


	5. Chapter 4: Just Stopping By for Revenge

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 4: Just Stopping By for Revenge**

After a futile attempt at sleeping on the cold uncomfortable floor, he noticed that, unlike him, some of his fellow captives seemed to show some interest in the

porridge.

He got up on his feet and took the bowl with him, placing it next to a couple of nearby cages containing some small monkeys. The primates immediately reached out

their hands through the bars to secure some of the food.

Poor things looked like they hadn`t eaten in a while, and he thought grimly that because of him they probably weren`t a priority at all anymore.

He leaned his back against the wall, his shoulders sagged in disappointment for not being of any use while tied up like this, and sighed heavily, resuming to wait in

silence.

* * *

_Half an hour later…_

* * *

When Shadow had chaos controlled and ended up in a dimly lit basement full of caged animals, he couldn`t help thinking that he must have been on the receiving

end of a practical joke.

Why would Sonic be in a place like this? The Master Emerald clearly must have been mistaken when it suggested this place as the blue blur`s current location. Even

he found the atmosphere of this dark room filled with miserable caged creatures revolting, and had no doubt that this would be one of the last places he would find

his rival. He was just about to focus on the purple chaos emerald`s energy and leave, when he heard a familiar voice calling out his name in disbelief.

"Shadow? Is that really you?"

The addressed hedgehog turned around to see just the one he had been looking for standing in a corner with an awkward expression on his face, probably from the

fact that he was leashed to the floor and...

"What happened to your quills?" the black one blurted out, also noticing that his rival`s tail was bandaged and he had claw marks all over his arms and chest. _"He has _

_only been away for a couple of days, but looks like a complete mess"_ he inwardly scoffed.

"Nothing I can`t fix. Now tell me how you managed to find me?" the blue one answered impatiently, shrugging off the question and the further explanation that

naturally would have followed them.

"Borrowed an emerald from Rouge and convinced her to distract that dimwitted guardian so I could ask the master emerald" the dark one replied.

"That`s a long story cut short" Sonic, which never did have patience with longer stories, commented somewhat impressed.

"But exactly why did you take the trouble of coming here for?" the blue one asked curiously.

"What do you think?" Shadow said with a menacing smirk, and had the satisfaction to see his rival turning pale.

A weak `no` was all a suddenly paralyzed Sonic could muster to say.

"I believe you are familiar with this?" the black one said with a smooth voice, while pointing a certain gun at him.


	6. Chapter 5: This Joke is Getting Old

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 5: This Joke is Getting Old**

"Turn me back" the cerulean infant demanded coolly, the only two positive parts of the situation he now found himself in were that he had out-shrunk the collar and

his quills were again sharp, but put that aside; he was just plain furious.

"Not a chance, but you are welcome to do it yourself" the black one answered and put the Y.-Gun in front of the little hedgehog.

"I can`t…my arms are too short" he said reluctantly. If Sonic tried to aim at himself he wouldn`t reach the trigger.

"I know, I was counting on that" Shadow said, and gave his now so harmless rival a sardonic smile before failing at maintaining his composure, laughing.

However, he stopped when seeing the unexpected transfixed expression of the infant "Eh, why are you looking at me like that?"

Blinking as if woken by a trance, Sonic mustered to give an answer "I…I just realized I`ve never actually heard you laugh before".

"And?" the older hedgehog inquired with a raised eye ridge.

"Nothing" the young one answered innocently before adding in a much lower voice "Except that you sound like a deranged evil psychopath".

"Come again?" the black hedgehog asked without changing his expression.

"Nothing" the blue one repeated unconvincingly with a shrewd smile.

Shadow gave him a deadpan and crossed his arms.

"_Man he does that a lot"_ Sonic thought before continuing sounding somewhat bored "Anyway, you`re too late. This joke is getting old".

"What do you mean? I can assure you I have never done anything like this before…" the black one started before getting interrupted "Let`s just say that it`s not the

first time this have happened to me…or you, for that matter" he said with a smug expression, snickering at the last part.

The black hedgehog didn`t reply, but his expression said it all. He did not like to be reminded about that incident and looked slightly annoyed, understatement of the

year, but then his clenched teeth suddenly started to turn into an evil smirk that rapidly spread across his face.

"_This can`t be good" _Sonic thought, feeling slightly unnerved by the other`s sudden change of mood and boost of confidence, and tried to brace himself for whatever

came next.

"Your pink girlfriend has not seen you like this before, has she?"

"_Oh no! Anything but that!"_

"I believe she, and that two-tailed fox are planning a surprise party for you, maybe we should surprise them instead?" Shadow continued.

"Don`t you dare" the blue one threatened, though he seriously doubted that would help.

The black hedgehog, as one could expect, only smiled cruelly at the useless threat and was about to pick up his rival when the sound of a door being unlocked caught

his attention. He turned his head toward the top of the stairs when he, too late, realized his mistake, a mistake which included a very vengeful Sonic and a briefly

unattended gun.

Although he had not been able to fire the weapon at himself, the younger hedgehog had no difficulty whatsoever to pull the trigger when aiming at someone else…

Shadow suddenly found himself sitting on the floor at the same eyelevel as the blue annoyance`s.

"You didn`t!" he growled.

Emerald eyes glinted in amusement back at burning mad ruby ones.

"I believe I just did".

Then both pair of eyes turned toward the staircase, where someone was descending.


	7. Chapter 6: Leaving the Basement

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 6: Leaving the Basement**

"What kind of place is this anyway?" Shadow asked in a whisper with his gaze immersed on the staircase.

"Not a happy one" was the simple hushed reply.

The black hedgehog was about to scowl at his blue counterpart for not giving him a proper answer, but was interrupted as the human had reached the bottom of the

stairs and was currently staring at the two baby hedgehogs with a shocked expression.

"What in the world!" he exclaimed. The trio stared at each other dumfounded for almost a minute before the human finally came back to his senses, approaching the

infants while grabbing an empty cage on his way.

Sonic was the first of them to react "Shadow, start crawling!" he urged, and quickly made use of his own four limbs, making his way between the stacked cages. Too

late, Shadow tried following his rival`s example, and was lifted up by one of his legs from the floor and promptly without care dropped down in the cage the human

carried, landing on his head.

Jason shut the little door and put aside the cage on top of some others to chase after the small elusive blue hedgehog that so quickly had disappeared between the

towers of metal bars.

"Get back here little friend, I won`t hurt you" Jason first tried luring him, but when this obviously failed he started to move away the obstacles separating him from

the valuable cerulean creature.

Sonic knew he was playing a losing game of hide and seek, because sooner rather than later he would have nothing more to hide behind. At least he made his enemy

have to work to recapture him, though this was a microscopic comfort.

And, as predicted, he was soon exposed from his hiding place behind a caged parrot. He flattened his ears and snarled in aggression at the man, though that proved

to be disappointingly ineffective as the human merely responded by picking him up by the neck, a subduing hold Sonic had learned to hate with all his heart since the

first time he had been changed into infancy.

With the blue spiky fur ball being unable to move, Jason had no problem with getting the second hedgehog into the cage.

Just after the lock had been put on, Max shouted from the first floor "I`ve just got a call from our friend downtown that the cops are heading our way, we better get a

move on right now!".

"Get the van ready! I`ll bring the creature and its friend" answered Jason, while picking up the cage containing the two mobians and the gun, after almost tripping

over it in his hurry to get up the stairs.

"Friend?" Max asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yeah, I don`t know how, but this black and red creature must have gotten down in the cellar and used this shrink gun on the blue one to get him out of the leash or

something, but I caught 'em both" was the quick explanation, while he showed his accomplice what he was carrying.

"Bet we could ask for more when they`re so cute and small" the bulky one said in a pleased tone while admiring the new addition before the graveness of their

situation hit him again "But we won`t get anything but prison time if we don`t hurry".

Upon that realization, the two men scurried out to their van, not wasting time on figuring out more about their unusual captives.

"_At least the animals will be safe"_ Sonic thought with faint optimism. He then looked down on his unconscious rival with growing concern _"But what about us?"_


	8. Chapter 7: Caged Together

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 7: Caged Together**

"Shouldn`t we put them in separate cages in case they hurt each other with their quills or something?"

"Aside from the color they`re practically identical, probably siblings, I doubt they`ll harm one another, and by the look of it; the black one seemed to try and save

Blue here. So this will have to do. Besides we don`t have much time" Jason answered lazily while slamming the backdoor of the van shut.

Shadow stirred at the sudden noise and groaned as he regained consciousness "Ungh, my head. What were those humans talking about?"

"Us" was the short reply from a mortified Sonic who kept his gaze stiffly on the closed door.

"WHAT?! How dare they? I`m obviously not related to you, Faker" the black one growled offended.

"You stole my words" the blue one said in a dry deadpan.

They could feel the vibrations from the engine coming to life, and a small thrust at their bodies told them that the van was now moving toward some unknown

location.

"Where will they take us?" Shadow asked in a low voice with a stern look at the door, which made the other uncertain whether the question actually was directed at

him or just a rhetorical one. Either way, he didn`t know where the crooks would take them and remained silent.

Judging by the uneven bumping of the vehicle, they were not driving on the road, but more likely on the somewhat concealed trail through the forest that lay just

behind the house. It was the path Sonic had tried to reach earlier when sedated, in hopes that he would have been able to hide there long enough for the drugs to

wear off. Unfortunately, he hadn`t gotten that far…

Now he wondered if Jason and Max might have a second hideout hidden somewhere in the woods.

While lost in thought, Sonic hadn`t noticed that Shadow had managed to press his hands through the bars and was currently struggling to lift the handle on the inside

of the van.

"Care to help me open this thing?" he barked through clenched teeth, making his blue co-prisoner snap into attention. Without hesitation Sonic mimicked the black

ones attempt at opening the door, and with their shared strength, they succeeded in their task.

"Great work Shadow!" the cerulean one praised cheerfully.

"Don`t thank me yet! We still have to…" Shadow`s next sentence was cut short when a big bump in the road threw the cage with the two little hedgehogs out of the

van. Their little prison landed heavily between some bushes in the ditch of the one-way road.

"Ouch, I think my left wrist got twisted" Sonic whined.

"How nice…now can you get the hell off of me?" the black hedgehog asked dryly with strained breath from underneath his rival`s weight. His blue rival carefully, so

he wouldn`t get wounded by his quills which currently were pointing in every direction, crawled off from his back.

They sat down and started to inspect their new situation in mutual silence. The two men hadn`t noticed that they had lost their precious cargo and were long gone,

their cage was regrettably still in one piece, and the infernal gun had of course landed well out of reach in one of the nearby bushes.

There really wasn`t much they could do, except pray that someone would find them. And that that someone didn`t want them any harm…

Like perhaps that big canine snout that suddenly appeared from the forest side of their landing spot!

Sonic smiled nervously and stammered "N-nice doggy".


	9. Chapter 8: New Predicament

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 8: New Predicament**

If there was one thing about the large black furred dog, that looked like a crossbreed between a Rottweiler maybe and something bigger and hairier, that the two

hedgehogs were absolutely sure of; the canine was NOT a 'nice doggy'.

After a quick sniff on the caged creatures, it had growled aggressively at them and startled them further by trying to bite its way through the cage. Strong jaws

actually leaving dents on the solid metal bars.

Shadow snarled back at their attacker, ripped out one of his own quills and planted it in the large animal's sensitive snout. The dog yelped in pain and let go of his

prey while unsuccessfully attempting to remove the sharp spine with his front paws.

The pained cry apparently had attracted someone's attention, because the voice of an old lady was suddenly heard "Baxter? Was that you? Don`t tell me you`ve

attacked another porcupine again!" she called out. The dog lowered its head and tail in shame, and ambled its way toward her.

"What do you know, a quill. Why am I not surprised you mean old thing? Hope you`ve learned your lesson this time. Now stand still so I can remove it" the two

hedgehogs could hear her scolding her pet. "There! It`s out. Better see to that you haven`t harmed the poor critter" this caught the mobians immediate attention.

"Perhaps we shouldn`t talk to her, it might scare her off" Sonic suggested in a quick whisper. Shadow frowned at this but gave a small nod of agreement, secretly

thankful for not having to talk with the blue annoyance for a while.

As Sonic predicted, the shock of finding two alien creatures was probably as much as the poor lady, probably in her late sixties, could handle. When she came back to

her senses, she decided to bring them to her home where she managed to open the cage with a crowbar. She had also brought along the gun, though she had

without a second thought thrown it in her garbage can outside her house to the two infants great regret. After being left on the countertop in her kitchen, the old lady

apparently went to find them some food, they began to talk again.

"We need to get that gun back" Sonic said in a lowered voice.

"Obviously" Shadow commented unenthusiastically, already missing the silence of the other.

"Think we can slip out through that open window behind you?" the blue one asked unaffected by the black one`s unconcealed resent against him.

Shadow glanced over his shoulder and looked down out of the window.

"That depends…how do you feel about landing on barbed wire?"

Sonic`s eyes widened in shocked surprise "What! The kind old lady who lives here has `that` outside her window?"

"Close, It`s a rosebush really, but a rose by any other name still stings" the black one shrugged.

Landing in a bush full of thorns as sharp as their quills was out of the question. It might as well have been barbed wire, cute and decorative version.

"Not to forget that 'charming' hellhound she keeps as a pet. Pretty sure it would be thrilled to tear us to pieces if we even did manage to get to the other side of the

roses" Sonic added dryly while apprehensively eyeing said dog, which was at the moment relentlessly patrolling his territory inside the fenced garden with a headless

stuffed toy trapped between his drooling fangs.

"This is got to be the weirdest fortress I`ve ever been trapped in" the blue blur thought resentfully with a frown.


	10. Chapter 9: Small World

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 9: Small World**

"What is that?" Shadow asked with a raised eye ridge, clearly unable to judge whether the so-called 'food' in front of him was edible or not.

Sonic, who recognized the brownish dry foul-smelling food from being served something similar previously on another alternate Earth, couldn`t help but smile cruelly

inward while outwardly putting up a considerably more innocent smile before cheerfully serving his rival a wicked lie "Local delicacy, you should definitely try some".

"If you say so" the black one shrugged, absently ignoring the blue prankster who currently struggled to keep a straight face while Shadow reached for the bowl and

picked up a handful of its content.

A wide-eyed Sonic stared expectantly as his rival put the 'food' in his mouth.

Shadow`s expression changed drastically into a disgusted grimace as he tasted what he was chewing on, and only with great difficulty managed to swallow it down.

Sonic was, of course, helplessly laughing so hard that he fell on his back.

"Awesome! You should have seen your face!" he managed between his giggles.

"What…the…hell…did I just eat?!" the black one asked through clenched teeth while trying to keep his complaining stomach in check.

"My professional opinion? Dog food"

"Why you…" a livid Shadow growled, before attacking. When the cerulean one saw the other one charging at him, at full crawling speed, he quickly turned himself on

his belly attempting to get away. But as soon as he put weight on his damaged wrist, he yelped in pain and rolled over at his side while clutching his hurting joint with

his right hand.

Not wasting this golden opportunity Shadow was just about to throw himself at him, when a couple of hands had scooped his target up and well out of reach from his

short grasp.

The old lady held Sonic carefully in one arm while carefully checking his slightly swollen wrist with her free hand, while talking soothingly to calm him down. Sonic

didn`t exactly need to be comforted because of something as insignificant as a twisted wrist, however, protection from whatever retribution his furious rival eagerly

wanted to deliver felt necessary. So he did his best to look as miserable and pitiful as possible, in the hopes that she wouldn`t put him back down with his awaiting

doom, and it worked!

She made a phone call, while still holding the little 'upset' hedgehog, and made a quick appointment. Sonic didn`t really pay attention to what she said, being busy

with grinning smugly at the black and red infant who had followed them into the living room, but her last sentence caught his attention.

_"Did she just say 'see you in half an hour Emily'?"_ he thought surprised _"Could I really be that lucky?"_

* * *

_About half an hour later…_

* * *

The answer to Sonic`s questions proved to be 'yes' as Dr. McKinley showed up on the old woman`s doorstep. "Hello aunt Imogen" Emily greeted politely when the old

lady opened the door to let her visitor in. Imogen briefly explained the situation of how she found two very unusual hedgehogs, and that one of them had hurt its paw

which was the reason for her requesting a visit from her only niece. She then asked Emily to go and check on the poor little creature in the living room, while she put

on some tea.

The vet entered the room she had been instructed to with a peculiar feeling that 'unusual' and 'hedgehog' sounded strangely familiar, and wasn`t too surprised to find

a blue fur ball on her aunts green couch. "Fancy seeing you again so soon, have you shrunk since last time?"


	11. Chapter 10: Return

**Escaping Earth** (by RAWN)

**Chapter 10: Return**

"Emily!" Sonic exclaimed happily with an enthusiastic smile on his face. The vet went across the room to greet her little friend; she stopped in her tracks as she had

almost stepped on something, more specifically another anthropomorphic hedgehog. "A-another one?" she stuttered in surprise.

Shadow looked up at the human Sonic had called 'Emily'. Obviously this female was an acquaintance of his rival, but that wasn`t necessarily a good thing for him, so

he eyed her warily a brief moment before addressing her. "I take it you`re a friend of him" Shadow asked while pointing upwards at the green couch where Sonic sat

safely out of harm`s way.

"Yes. I`m Emily McKinley by the way, nice to meet you…" she paused obviously waiting for him to give her his name. "Shadow" he mumbled in reply, which made the

human smile merrily at him.

After this fleeting introduction, Emily revealed that she had managed to snatch the purple emerald and their clothes when helping the police with loading the

animals from that horrid basement a little earlier, as well as bringing the green one Jed found. Amazed and grateful about this, Sonic told her quickly about how they

had ended up in this predicament and what she could do to help them out of it. He just managed to finish telling her the last details concerning the location of a

certain gun, before Imogen entered the room with tea and biscuits and both hedgehogs fell silent. Emily took the hint and pretended to be completely unaware of the

mobians ability to understand language, and merely checked Sonic`s injured wrist and confirmed to her anxious aunt that it wasn`t broken.

After a little tea-break the old lady suggested that her dear niece should take the 'two little darlings' along with her to the zoo on account that she already had her

hands full with Baxter, saving Emily the trouble of convincing her of the very same thing.

After that, things went very smoothly. The vet and the two hedgehogs left after a short chat between the humans. Then Emily fished out the gun from the garbage

can and used it on the hedgehogs after some convincing of the 'no-it-really-won`t-hurt-us' kind from Sonic`s side. When being turned back to normal again and

having gotten their clothes back on, even Shadow thanked her courteously while Sonic gave her a hug. It was time for the two Mobians to finally return home.

"Here are the emeralds" Emily said and handed over the two precious stones to Sonic, who proceeded to give them to Shadow. The black hedgehog raised an eye

ridge questioningly at this.

"Come on! You know I`m not good at using chaos control yet, so unless you want to end up somewhere completely random; like on the top of an erupting volcano or

something, it`s better you do it. Besides, didn`t you borrow yours from Rouge? I`m sure she`ll want it back with interest" Sonic said grinningly with a wink of an

eye. Shadow wasn`t sure what to answer to this sudden charity from his rival, only giving a single nod as a reply and a 'hold on to my arm unless you want to stay'

while focusing on the emeralds energy before shouting "Chaos Control". The blue hedgehog barely had time to give Emily a last wave of his hand before both mobians

disappeared from the face of Earth.

"_I`m so going to take a long vacation after this!"_ Dr. McKinley thought amazed.

* * *

Safe back at Mobius just outside Tails` workshop, the two rivals had some last parting words. "They`re all waiting to surprise you" Shadow informed Sonic, meaning

the surprise party Tails and Amy had planned. "Wanna join? And what about that revenge?" the blue blur asked cheerfully, though eyeing the gun warily. To his

surprise Shadow threw it on the ground and crushed it under his right hoverskate "Consider it a birthday present" he said with a hint of a smile, before leaving the

Sonic to his party.

"Thanks buddy" Sonic whispered gratefully, before preparing himself to 'be surprised' and opened the door to the workshop and celebrate his sixteenth birthday with

'most' of his friends.

**The End  
**(Please review X3 this is the end of this series, at least for now, but don`t worry! I`m working on a new Sonic story which I`m hoping will be longer and better than what I`ve currently done ;D I`ll be posting the prologue as soon as I`ve come up with a title and written a little bit more of chapter 1...when I do; I hope you will support and help me with ideas cause I don`t know for sure how it will develop yet ^^" still early in the process)


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